A beautifully illustrated book written by Omar S. Castaneda who was born in Guatemala and teaches writing at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. The artist, Enrique O. Sanchez was born in the Dominican Republic and has worked as a graphic artist for Sesame Street. Together they create magic.

Esperanza is a girl who is learning to weave with her grandmother, Abuela. On the day of the Fiesta de Pueblos in Guate, they decide to reveal their work to the world.

"Esperanza, however, wore her favorite huipil: it was a white blouse with red, blue and green threads in the rectangular collar. Under that, the colors bled into silver and blue, and hidden within the intricate designs of the blouse were tiny quetzals flying freely in the threads the way they once flew in the great forests of Guatemala."

They have to take a bus and then finally they arrive in the city. Once Esperanza starts to hang up her work, people start to look at the elaborate weavings and some even take pictures. She sells all the items and her grandmother is very proud of her.

A loving story that follows in the tradition of Guatemala's legendary artisans.

Buy it! For a delightful experience of a grandmother and granddaughter and how they grow closer through sharing of talent and love, you should read this one.

After returning from a solo trip to Guatemala, I was looking for a way to give my children a sense of what the country is like - not just what I saw there, but what I felt, being among the Maya. This book provided me with the tool I was looking for. This touching story weaves the importance and closeness of Mayan family, the responsibility that Mayan children must assume early in life, and a bit of the mystery surrounding the people into a wonderful tale. Reading Abuela's Weave to my children was one of the only times I have ever cried over a children's book.

The kids liked it, too.

Oh my god, this book was exactly like a soap opera. I mean, Isabel loves Lucas, but she's talking to Allen Waters, a doctor, and Lucas thinks she likes him. Isabel's "best friend" Teresa, still likes Lucas, they used to date so she tells Lucas a pack of lies, and at the end...guess what??? .... I highly reccomend it for people who like sappy love stories. The plot's ok, Isabel wants to be a teacher, but her mom, Manuela, is dying so she can't go to school. You figure it out.

This is a book with a good, believable story that helps give the reader an inside look at life in a Guatemalan village. However, the author spends a good deal of time and a good deal of figurative language attending to the setting and feelings of the character. Since it is set in a place that is unfamiliar to many U.S. readers, this may be necessary, but for my younger readers, it meant the story moved along a bit too slowly. For many of them, reading the book became a painful process.

I was a friend of Omar's when he was teaching out at Western Washington University in Bellingham USA back in 1994. His testimony and love for the Guatemalan people and MAYA was always present in his daily life. His family and friends hold him dear to our hearts. I miss you Omar. Maybe in the next life we will be able to meet down in La Libertad, Cuscatlan and get some beers. READ THIS BOOK!